


Go the Distance

by Lortan



Series: While I was listening on Spotify [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Can you imagine how confusing that must be for everyone, Harry runs away, He's not Fred I am!, I'm Francis, Just kidding he is, Luckily the first mate does most of the work, Some fool decided to let Luna be the captain of an airship, There are four Weasley twins because changelings exist, What a combination am I right?, inspired by Go the Distance from Hercules, obviously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 09:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20992697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lortan/pseuds/Lortan
Summary: Harry knows exactly what his world could be like. How wonderful it could be away from here, this dirty port city with its smells and snobbish people, who believe that they're better than every Fae, halfling, and associate that comes through their sky, just because they live in one unmoving place and fit within the standard dictionary definition of "normal".Hence why he ran away and is currently trying to stow away on an airship.





	Go the Distance

**Author's Note:**

> Another story that was written for the Houses Competition but never got submitted due to weather interference with my internet at the time. But it has Faeries in it so it's not like I could NOT post it.
> 
> Please note: Iunoria is spelled with an uppercase i, not a lower case L. It's pronounced as following: Ai-you-nor-ia. Often shortened to Iue, or just Ai-you, as a nickname but I left it full.

Harry has always dreamed of far off places. He's not sure where or what they are, but if anyone ever bothered to ask him, he knows he could describe them in the finest detail. The way people welcome him warmly, the texture of old stone and the look of ancient towers, the warmth of sunny Faerie circles and the chilly wetness of converging streams, the voices singing of how great he is and the glimmer of polished copper and glass as he rises through the air. He knows exactly what it will feel like to sleep in a big soft bed instead of the cupboard his aunt and uncle keep him in, and what it will be like to run beneath stars with sprites during the full moon, and what hot steam smells like as it's poured from great engines and evaporates into the zephyr.

He knows exactly what his world could be like. How wonderful it could be away from here, this dirty port city with its smells and snobbish people, who believe that they're better than every Fae, halfling, and associate that comes through their sky, just because they live in one unmoving place and fit within the standard dictionary definition of "normal". He knows how out in the sky on airships that bellow steam and smoke like great kites behind them, and far down on Old Earth where trees still grow, and at the many sky-islands both ships and people of every race, breed, and colour call home, there is no such thing as mean aunts and angry uncles and cupboards under the stairs. Out there, there is only adventure, wonder, and the horizon stretching out forever. Out there, you can reach up and touch the stars and the mechanical moon, and feel hot with joy at life.

He's decided that that's where he wants to be. He just has to figure out how to get there.

Hence why he is currently crouched amongst barrels of fruit and rum and dried salted meat, watching booted feet clomp past as he tries his hardest not to be seen by the woman who is watching over it all, her chocolatey brown eyes observant and stern, and furry ears twitching furiously atop her head. All around him him tower ogres and tall women with knife like ears tucked under trihorn hats, who carry boxes and crates and lead on the occasional human passenger. Some of the humans are clearly disgruntled by the other race, and look wary and distrustful of the hobs carrying their luggage. Others are different, and instead look around in wonder at everything, and they don't seem bothered in the least by the inhuman and half-human creatures that bustle all around at the docks. A huge family of redheads rushes by, two identical boys laughing like mad with another pair of boys who are also nearly identical save for their pointed ears, and a little fire-haired girl asking a million questions to the sweet-looking pixie who is leading them carefully up the planks onto the wood and painted metal airship.

The Hogwarts Express, it says in gold lettering along one long, sleek red side. This is the ship he intends to board. Or rather, the one he intends to stow away on.

He's never sneaked onto a ship before, but he's heard terrible things about boys who are caught stowing. He knows that if he's caught, being returned to his aunt and uncle would be a relatively mild punishment compared to some of the things a Faerie Captain might cook up to punish what they view as a problem.

Luckily for him, he's usually pretty good at not being seen. The easiest way to fit in with his relatives is to fit into the background, like a piece of unremarkable old machinery that puts breakfast on the table, cares for what is left of the garden, and never speaks a word. Man-made automatons stay silent, and just like them, for years Harry has acted obediently and silently. He'll count on that ability one last time, to blend into the background and sneak beneath view, and then, once the ship has taken off and everyone is too busy to notice one extra passenger, he intends to yell up a storm.

However, this plan is shattered before it can even come to fruition, because just then, a single pale eye appears between the barrels, looking directly at him, and a soft sweet voice sings, "hello." Literally sings it. Then, "My name is Luna. They say I'm the Captain, but really I think the Express kind of captains herself. I'm just a piece of fluff in the wind. What are you, little boy crouched by the kumquats? You don't look like a Nargle." The girl calling herself Luna ponders, and her silvery gaze looks him up and down slowly. Harry is too scared to say anything, so instead he just stays silent and lets her eye pick him apart and look right through him. "No. I know what you are. You're going to be a stowaway, aren't you? I can tell it by your shoes. They look very stowaway-like."

Harry feels his heartbeat quicken as he quickly shifts to sit on top of his apparently traitorous feet, and then wonders how much it will hurt when they toss him back to his relatives—assuming they don't curse him or beat him first. He waits for her to start screaming at him.

It doesn't matter, he reminds himself. If not this ship, then another. He's going to get away eventually, and one day he's going to be great. This won't stop him forever.

"Don't let my first mate, Iunoria, find you. She's not very nice sometimes, you know, and she'll probably stop you," Luna says instead, and finally blinks.

She blinks too slowly. Harry gets the feeling that she couldn't hurt a fly, but her blink is unnerving and inherently frightening nonetheless. Like she sees everything and is trying to erase it all by closing her eyes.

"Although... Iunoria isn't very observant sometimes, you know. She doesn't see half of the things that I can. If I tell the Nargles to go bother her, you can get on, and she won't notice a thing. Would you like that?" Luna asks, her tone dreamy but friendly.

There's a million questions bubbling in the back of his brain—why would she do this? Why would she help him? Who's Iunoria? What's a Nargle?—but instead of asking, Harry finds himself nodding, and a moment later she pulls back. Harry wonders if she's going to kick him off after all, but then a pale hand with rings on each four-knuckled finger is thrust onto his face, and he hears her voice asking in sing song if he'd like to shake on it. He takes her hand, and feels a short jolt of Faerie magic rush between them, reminding him of rhinestones and sunshine and the faint taste of butter in his mouth, and then her hand retreats and the feeling goes out along with it. He sees a glimpse of her bare feet and rainbow leg warmers through the crack before she disappears amongst the masses.

Sure enough, soon the barrels he hides amongst are moved aboard the ship and he is able to slip along behind them, pretending that he's helping, and duck and blend in amongst the other children running around the deck under their mothers' watchful eyes. He receives looks, but as is generally the manner among groups of hassled, busy mothers, everyone assumes he belongs to someone else and leaves him be. A few crewmembers mumble at him to get back to his parents and stay out of the way, but no one tries to stop him and make sure it actually happens. The woman who was watching earlier has disappeared from her post when he looks up.

Soon the engines rumble to life, and pixies, sylphs, and humans wearing canvas wings fly up to prepare, accompanied by spider women and cait sidhe scuttering up the lines like they were born for it, and the next thing anyone knows the ship is casting off. As the woman with chocolate eyes from earlier reappears and calls for everyone's attention, Harry looks up to the helm and sees a Faerie with silver eyes and bare feet grinning down at him. He grins back up at Luna, even as Iunoria is still speaking of all the proper decorum she expects to be displayed on the good Captain's ship, and how any passengers caught being a bother will be dropped into the engine, and so on and so forth. Many of the more Folk-wary of the passengers look alarmed by this, but the ones who are more obviously used to it just laugh and nod agreeably.

The port disappears into the distance in no time at all, and a few hours later the sun sets. Starlight and the light shed by the mechanical moon lights the deck instead, and most of the passengers go beneath deck to find their rooms. A few families still remain though, included the small mob of redheads from earlier and a cluster of dark haired, dusky skinned halflings with their human mother. Harry stays out as well. He leans against a rail and relishes the rocking, rumbling feeling of the warm deck beneath his feet, the cold wind blowing in his face, the wet mist clinging to the masts and occasionally dripping down into his hair. Up here the air smells cleaner then it ever did at the port city, and both up and down blend together into a night coloured backdrop to the story that is slowly unfolding before him.

At some point, Luna materialises out of nowhere next to him, accompanied by Iunoria, and at first Harry is scared that she's caught on and is going to be furious with him, and will make the ship stop and turn around to take him back. He meets her dark brown eyes, however, and sees grudging acceptance there, before she jerks her head lightly towards Luna, who is reaching out to stroke a line like it's a living, breathing thing.

The message is clear: she knows, and she doesn't necessarily like it, but she'll allow it because of the Captain. Harry closes his mouth with a slight click and nods back, before he starts smiling.

He keeps on smiling, an aching cheeks sort of smile, even as the last few families disappear beneath deck and a spider woman climbs up to take the night watch, and Iunoria has long since disappeared to do who knows what. But Luna stays, and so they stand together, and Harry doesn't feel even the least bit tired as the night goes on, only content. He is surrounded by new friends and new adventure, and he is finally on his way to see all of those far off places that he's dreamed about for so long.

He is on his way.

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of like to think that Harry ended up a permanent member of the crew at some point, and went on to find greatness in the sky. I also like to think that Luna more or less adopted him as her own and he just grew up with her ruffling his hair and reminding him to check under his pillow each night for gremlins. And Iunoria would have been annoyed at first but at some point a transition was made and suddenly he was her son too and she was the actually sensible adult figure in his life as he grew. She probably would start tucking him in at night and refuse to stop even when he was a teenager because she was so old the years meant nothing to her and she still saw him as the little boy who had tried to stow.
> 
> Yeah I love this universe.
> 
> Anyhow, thanks for reading, leave a comment if you like but I won't hunt you down if you don't, and byeeeeee!


End file.
